African Cup of Nations Tragedy

I have been in Angola and I found it a wonderful country with wonderful people. Still, it has a sad history, poverty and violence, and although the country was awarded to host the 2010 African Cup of Nations the violence have alreayd overshadowed the entire tournament.
Upon passing the border from the DR Congo to the Angolan enclave of Cabinda, the bus carrying Togo's national side was attacked by gunmen of the separatist group FLEC. Three members of Togo's entourage have been confirmed killed, and Togo has understandably decided to withdraw from the tournament, where they otherwise faced some interesting matches against Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana and Burkina Faso.
There is nothing that can be said about the human tragedy here, but in footballing terms the real tragedy is for African football. At a time when Africa is set to host its first world cup, and when the world is finally looking to the African Cup of Nations as a tournament where serious World Cup contenders are participating (I am in Venezuela, where they for the first time are going to show live matches from the tournament), this can only put things in the wrong light, and take attention away from the high quality football we can expect.
That said, it means nothing for South Africa 2010: a different country and a different place, and indeed, Cabinda is a place that has been in conflict for decades - in this sense it more seemed like a miscalculation from Angolan authorities to have set matches there, as well as not have provided the proper protection for the Togolese team.

Egypt: African Champions

Although living in Africa, I didn't have the opportunity to follow the African Cup in Ghana. Nevertheless, there weren't any surprises: defending champions again won the title with solid tactics and good players, while many other teams disappointed.
And stadiums were empty, and there were accusations of corruption: African football may be advancing in many areas, but still has a long way to go.

Don't miss it: The African Nations Cup 2008

The African Nations Cup is starting on January 2008 in Ghana. It is bound to be an interesting spectacle, with some intense clashes in the Ghanaian heat and humidity, but I would not expect too much in level of quality: while there are many top players who perform in top clubs in Europe, quality in these types of national tournaments is far below what is seen in top clubs nowadays (with the World Cup being an example).
Nevertheless, with the intensity and nationalism these tournaments engender, it is not to be missed. Also, with the next World Cup 2010 being held in South Africa, it will be interesting to see the way the teams perform.
The groups with the 16 teams are as follows:

• Group A: Ghana, Namibia, Guinea, Morocco
• Group B: Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Cote d'Ivoire
• Group C: Tunisia, Angola, South Africa, Senegal
• Group D: Egypt, Sudan, Zambia, Cameroon

Obviously there are already in the first round some interesting matches!
In group A, the hosts of Ghana, supported by passionate fans, will be expecting nothing else but success at home.
Group B will see giants Nigeria and last cup's finalists Cote d'Ivoire in an interesting West African group, where Mali should be considered some serious outsiders with many very experienced players from European top clubs.
Group C sees some giants of African football, Tunisia and Senegal, with the South Africans, who will desperately be looking for success before the 2010 World Cup, and the new interesting Angolan side, who did so well in the 2006 World Cup.
Finally, group D will see Egypt, defending champions from 2006, and a Cameroonian side, led by Samuel Eto'o, who will be looking for the success they otherwise have the team for!
Don't miss it!!!

African Cup Finalists: Egypt and Ivory Coast

I have not been following the African Cup with an overly keen interest after Ghana's disappointing exit. But after some great quarterfinals and semifinals, I certainly believe we can look forward to a very good final next Friday, between two of the best teams of the tournament: Home team Egypt against the World Cup bound Ivory Coast.

The Ivorians are in the final after an intense quarterfinal against Cameroon (which was won 12-11 after penalty kicks. Eto'o missed the last penalty for Cameroon, ending in shame a great tournament. I only wonder if he will be treated as Wome was...), and a narrow 1-0 victory against Nigeria in the semifinal. Didier Drogba has been a leading player on the Ivorian side, and he also scored the lone goal against Nigeria.

I am not surprised Egypt is in the final. The home team, "the Pharaohs", have been strong all the way, pushed forward by a wonderful crowd of fans. They easily dispatched Congo 4-1 in the quarterfinal, but had more problems in the semifinal. Senegal put up a great fight, and Egypt looked like a team falling apart when Senegal equalized on a beautiful header. Then, Egyptian coach Hassan Shehata showed himself as a super-star coach: with ten minutes to go, he replaced the Egyptian star Mido with a Amr Zaki. Mido left in disgrace, furious; he almost hit his coach. Mido had not played a good match, and the change proved a brilliant move. Amr Zaki had some magical 10 minutes on the pitch, scoring the winning goal for Egypt.

Great players respect their coach's decision and show restraint. Mido's reaction to his substitution just shows he is not such a player. If I was coach, I would not let him play the final.

In the group stages Egypt already defeated Ivory Coast 3-1. However, the Egyptians should certainly not feel comfortable because of that. The Ivorians are very strong, and will surely do all they can to spoil any party in Egypt on Friday.

Pathetic Ghana out

I had really psyched myself for a comfortable Ghanaian victory against Zimbabwe, which would put the Black Stars in the quartefinals of the African Nations Cup. Together with all of Ghana, I was to be disappointed.

Although many teams have shown disappointing performances in this year's African Nations Cup, Ghana's performance yesterday was disgraceful. The first-half strategy seemed to be to give away the midfield, something the coach should take responsibility for. However, at the same time, the players were barely concentrated: there was hardly a correct pass, and the defense was absolutely horrible in every respect. Although Ghana is indeed missing some of its important players, this is still no excuse from such a disgraceful exit from the African Cup. These are all professionals who should be highly motivated to play for their country.

Ghana ended up losing 2-1 only. It was the more disappointing as a tie would have been enough to put them in the quarterfinals, since Nigeria defeated Senegal 2-1.

I have had great expectations to Ghana. I still do. But after yesterday's exit, I am beginning to doubt that the Ghanaian team really has the guts to play some of the best teams in the World. Playing ten times better than yesterday will not be enough to defeat Italy or the Czech Republic, and I am now also willing to predict that the USA will defeat Ghana.

In spite of this, and not to be completely negative, I hope that the Ghana team can learn from this experience, and start preparations early on, focused on the immense task ahead of them in Germany.

As for the remainder of the African Cup, I have nobody to support any more.

What a waste

One of the best Ghanaian players in the African Cup is Issah. He is not only a strong defender on the Ghanaian team, but also on a very strong Asante Kotoko side.

It is therefore with great regrets that I heard he is bound for the Danish club Randers FC. All due respect to this team, that is playing in the secondary league in Denmark, but Mr. Issah could do much better. It is a real waste to see excellent Ghanaian players, who play at highest level, running around on a third-rate league in Denmark. I hope that this is a short stint in Mr. Issah's career. Mr. Issah is far too good for Randers. If we saw Kotoko play Randers, I am certain that Kotoko would destroy the Danish side, so the change for Mr. Issah is because of money, and certainly not quality.

Senegal-Ghana tonight!

Ghana is playing a crucial match against Senegal in the African Cup. Senegal won their first match against Zimbabwe 2-0, while Ghana lost to Nigeria. The Black Stars must win tonight!

I have not been so psyched for a national team match for long. I really hope that the Black Stars will make lion gullasch out of the Senegalese! If not, I will have to buy beer to anyone who supports Senegal!

Good luck Senegalese! You will need it!

Super Samuel Eto'o

Of the games I have seen so far in the African Nations Cup, I have not been overly impressed by the teams. Specially some of the World Cup-bound teams have been a disappointment, and I do hope that this is just preparation, because I cannot see any of them getting far in the World Cup.

One team will be missed though: Cameroun. And that is not so much because of the team, as because of one single player: Samuel Eto'o. The Barcelona striker is at his best these days, and he is certainly showing that himself and Cameroun belong in the World Cup. In the first match he scored three goals against Angola, who is bound for Germany this summer. Today, Eto'o was the best player in giving Cameroun a well-deserved victory against another World Cup team, Togo.

Mr. Eto'o scored an absolutely astonishing first goal, and a brilliant play by him led to a beautiful goal with the heel by Menong-ze.

With the first two games, Samuel Eto'o has shown that he is the best striker in Africa, just as he often has shown he is the best in Spain, and one in the best in Europe. What a pity that he will not be able to show that he is indeed also the best striker in the World this summer!

Disappointing Ghana-Nigeria

In Group D of the African Nations Cup two of Africa's best teams faced each other. Ghana is one of the outsiders for the title, having qualified for their first World Cup. Nigeria is eager to show that they should be in the World Cup, where they have done well before. It was therefore with great expectations that both teams opened their African Cup campaign.

Although both teams had many injured players (for Ghana, the absence of Michael Essien was notable), the game was still a big disappointment. Ghana was organised well in the start of the match, but in the second half, a simple tactical change from the Nigerian team made their organisation fall apart. There were many chances, but they were mostly the result of luck or pure lack of concentration in defense. Nigeria's winning goal came from such a situation: Ghana's defenders looked asleep when a quick free-kick in the 85th minute ended with Taiwo, who hammered the ball in from a long distance. Ghana was too defensive and lacking fantasy to answer back, although bad defending by the Nigerians almost gave them a goal.

All in all, the match was too tactical, and both teams lacked concentration. None of the teams should hope to win the cup playing like they did today.

Egypt looking strong!

The African Nations Cup started in Cairo with an opening match between the Egyptian hosts and Lybia. Not having qualified for the World Cup in Germany, the Egyptians are eager to show on their own turf, that they are still among the top African teams. And the did start very well indeed. The neighboring Lybians were hardly a match for the highly motivated Egyptians, who furthermore had a great crowd pushing behind them.

Mido, one of the best players of the Egyptian team, opened the score after a strong early pressure. The Lybians had very little to show, and Egypt won a well-deserved 3-0 victory.

The Egyptians are certainly favourites to win this group, and are also the strongest contenders for the title. However, it remains to be seen how some of the other strong teams are looking over the next few days: Nigeria, Cameroun, Ghana, Tunisia and Morocco. It is undoutfully one of the strongest African Nations Cup ever.